1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display apparatus, an image display method, and an image display program.
2) Description of the Related Art
Recently, swallowable capsule endoscopes have been produced as a type of endoscopes. The capsule endoscopes are provided with an imaging capability and a radio capability. A capsule endoscope is configured to sequentially take images of organs such as the stomach and the small intestine within an observation period from the time it has been swallowed through the mouth of a patient for observation (examination) to its natural excretion from the human body (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H11-225996 Publication).
During the observation period, image data taken in a body by the capsule endoscope is sequentially transmitted outside through radio communication and is stored in a memory. Since a patient carries around a receiver having a radio communication capability and a memory capability, the patient can freely perform normal actions during the observation period from swallowing of the capsule endoscope to its excretion. After observation, a doctor or a nurse can display the images of organs on a display based on the image data stored in the memory and use it to make a diagnosis.
As the above type of capsule endoscope, “M2A (registered trademark)” by Given Imaging Ltd. of Israel, and “NORIKA (registered trademark)” by RF SYSTEM lab. of Japan are presently available, and they have already come to practical applications.
However, unlike an ordinary endoscope, the capsule endoscope described above takes images of each organ within a period from the time a subject swallows to its natural excretion, meaning an extended period of observation (examination), for example, more than ten hours. Therefore, the number of images to be taken in time sequence is correspondingly huge.
At the stage of diagnosis or the like, no particular consideration is given to improving the ability to retrieve a desired image from the vast amount of images taken over a long period of time, or providing a display screen allowing easy recognition of what time in the overall imaging period the displayed image was taken, of which organ is being shown, and the like.